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Japan
The Japanese '''have the power of Bushido. They replace the Romans. Suggestions and spoilers *Strengths: Highly versatile faction with a variegated army *Weaknesses: inferior Imperial army results in a dependence on unique units, rendering the Japanese army far less flexible than those fielded by factions such as Bohemia or Venice - furthermore, the quality of Japan's units fluctuates with each age. A quick look at Japan reveals the following: economically speaking, their cities can produce a bonus of 15 wealth, meaning that that wealth can be spent on further upgrades and buildings, such as universities, scientific research....and forts. In fact, give a Japanese player enough metal and forts will be built everywhere, allowing for a quick forward build. Military-wise, the Japanese are best suited towards rushing, but still have units suited to long-term gameplay where it is required. Aside from conscript swordsmen shared with the Mongols and the Chinese, Japan has three unit lines worth discussing: # Yari Samurai cost the same as the pikemen line for other factions, but tend to be slightly faster, more easily created and have better armour. # While it is true that Japan, China, and Mongolia all can create Imperial legates, which are Asian agents capable of assassination and espionage, the Japanese have a unique unit upgrade for this unit: the ninja. Not only do ninja have the improved attributes of most Nobles' court agent units, they also have the ability to sabotage buildings, thus making them valuable in levelling out Japan's weaknesses in the Imperial Era. # Another strange feature of Japan as a faction is its light infantry, archers and heavy cavalry. While other factions will train either espadchines or armoured militia, the Japanese ashigaru and samurai cavalry are as strong as any average European faction, what distinguishes them from others is their reduced technological cost. For normal cavalry and infantry, a European faction must first research the Imperial Era, and then Centralisation, along with Level 6 Military to obtain espadachines and men-at-arms. For the ashigaru and the samurai cavalry, only the Imperial Era and Imperial Mandate are required, meaning that the Japanese can obtain a very powerful Imperial Era army indeed. The same goes for genin and shashu no ashigaru, which while having poor rates of fire, can outrange almost any tower in the game. As a result, Japan could be one of the most complicated but highly rewarding factions to play. CtW guide Japan starts off rather isolated and cut off from the rest of the world. Initially confined to the island of Japan, you will discover that the country is somewhat divided: to the north, lies Hokkaido while Kyushu to the south guards the main routes across the Yellow Sea. In a defensive game, you should take any regions with rare resources that can aid in naval combat. Since Japan is isolated by the Yellow Sea, and an enemy must invade either from the north or from the south, protecting your home islands should not be too big a problem, but isolation can prove to be problematic. The warlords of your lands, the Samurai, will have some grouses: you should pay them off, lest you suffer the consequences. Once you conquer both islands, you can now begin the conquest of Asia: capture the Chinese-influenced Korean states and unite them with your own, as they control important resources and a supply centre, boosting the number of armies you possess to three, and making overruns of north Asia possible. Further resources can be obtained throughout Northern Asia: Manchuria grants falcons, which bestows a bonus on villagers, while the Northern Steppes' mainly pastoral economy also grants some boons to help in research. It is however possible that either the Chinese or the Mongols will stop you, depending of if and when one side eliminates the other. Alternatively, you could build up your power base and ally with either one faction to swing power in your favour. Be wary of the Turks, though, if they choose to return to conquer the lands of their birth. Should the Turks return, you will be facing threats from all sides, although it can be expected that the Turks may choose to vie with the Mongols and the Chinese. CtW Objectives *Conquer the entire map or acquire 10 colonies *Acquire Hokkaido; Kyushu; Baekje; Scilla; and Goguryeo to obtain 4 Warpath cards Faction summary *Highly militarised civ specialised in both attack and defence. *Fortitude — Boost any tax gains that you have by building forts to increase % of territory controlled. Wealth is key for gunpowder units and archers. *Ronin — Screen your forces with mercenary cavalry against archer-heavy civs, such as England, Poland or China. *Ain't No Wall High Enough — Japanese archers may be useful in a full-blown Dark Age game against turtlers and tower rushers. *I Don't Like To Slay Alone — Consider training siege weapons to complement your troops. *Pike-ing the Shot — In the Imperial Era, use pike-and-shot tactics - arquebusiers may not have good range as most archers, but they train considerably faster and hit harder and faster for the same cost. The amount of resources (food, knowledge) required for 1 arquebusier is the same amount required for 1 archer (wood, wealth). *Spy Hard — Ninja are the game's most powerful agent units, due to their abilities. Consider keeping a retinue of them at all times. *BANZAI!!! — A powerful rush strategy can be achieved using good samurai and very cheap suicide soldiers. Utilise the speed and offensive power of your samurai to complement a light infantry banzai charge. '''Settlements: Kyoto; Nara; Nagoya; Osaka; Fushimi; Himeji; Hirado; Hiraizumi; Hirosaki; Ise; Izumo; Kanazawa; Kokura; Kobe; Kumamoto; Matsue; Matsumoto; Matsuyama; Mito; Miyakonojo; Niigata; Noshiro; Odawara; Ogaki; Otsu; Sakai; Sendai; Shimoda; Shimonoseki; Takamatsu; Tokushima; Uraga; Uwajima; Yamaguchi; Yokohama; Yonago; Yonezawa Leaders: Gemmei, Moriyoshi, Narinaga, Oda Nobunaga, Ashikaga Takauji, Minamoto no Yoritomo, Kanmu, Taira no Masakado, Fujiwara no Sumitomo, Fujiwara no Michinaga Best age(s): Imperial History Nara period In 710 the Nara period began when the capital was moved to the city of Nara. It was customary in Japanese culture to move the capital after the death of an emperor, as it was believed that the death polluted the old capital. Styled after the Chinese Tang capital of Chang'an, Nara became a thriving urban and business centre. However, the provinces began to decline. In order to address this local administration of the lands began to take hold over central land control. Universal conscription began to fall out in favor of local militias. Heian period The capital of the Empire was again moved to Heian in 794, some 26 km north of Nara to re-establish Imperial control, ushering in the Heian period. This new city would be renamed Kyoto (meaning Capital City) by the end of the 11th century. It was at this time that Japan began to write its own official histories, as well as, many of its other literary monuments. Buddhism also became the official state religion. During this era, the Japanese continued its subjugation of the indigenous peoples of Japan, Emperor Kammu was appointed Shogun to accomplish this task and by 801 gained total control of the main Japanese isle of Honshu. While Imperial succession was ensured much of the actual power was held by one of the noble families. The Fujiwara clan was to take control after Kammu's death in 806. With the Tang dynasty in decline in China, Chinese-style central authority also became disfavoured, and Japan developed a more parochial approach to foreign affairs with the last official mission to China in 838. Despite the power struggles during this time, Japanese culture was flowering. The Chinese kanji system which Japanese writing had depended on began to be supplemented with two phonetic scripts called katakana and hiragana, which gave spoken Japanese a written form. This also opened the door to court women to produce literary works as previously only males had been educated to use the Chinese kanji system of writing. Some famous works during this time was the "Genji Monogatari", or The Tale of Genji and "Makura no Soshi", or The Pillow Book. Rise of the Samurai "I really think that among barbarous nations there can be none that has more natural goodness than the Japanese. ... Honour with them is placed above everything else. There are a great many poor among them, but poverty is not a disgrace to any one. ... The nobles, however poor they may be, receive the same honour from the rest as if they were rich." '' '— St Francis Xavier''' The growing decentralized nature of Japan, also saw the rise of a military class called the Samurai, who followed bushido, or the "way ('-do') of the warrior ('bushi')". These samurai became the mainstay of provincial and local power holders, and even civil and religious institutions had independent control of private samurai guard units to protect themselves. Several clans of these samurai naturally arose to prominence. The period between the 8th century until the 12th century saw the Fujiwara, the Taira and the Minomoto clan vying for control and power over Japan and over one another. By 1185 the Minamoto clan emerged as strongest of the three, signaling the Kamakura period, named after their headquarters in Kamakura in the northern part of Japan's main island, south-west of modern Tokyo. This period essentially made official the role of the samurai in politics for the next 700 years where the Emperors based in Kyoto were no more then figureheads relegated to ceremonial functions, while civil, military, and judicial functions were exercised by the Samurai class, with the most powerful samurai clan being the de factor ruler. The head of which was given the title shogun (in Japanese, "general" or "warlord"). Fall of the Minamoto The Minamoto did not continue to hold power for long, and by 1199 lost power to the Hojo Clan which was a branch of the Taira Clan. Under the Hojo clan the military governing body known as the bakufu in turn also became ineffectual, making the title of shogun a purely ceremonial one as well. The title was passed to many different people including members of the Fujiwara clan or even to Imperial Princes until 1221, when the Hojo clan that was supposed to be the official protector of the Imperial family went to war against them to regain power. However they managed to reform the governing body to allow other military lords to exercise judicial and legislative power at Kamakura with the Hojo presiding over a council of these lords. Military law was codified known as the "Joei" code and Japan became under official martial law. ''Kamikaze'' In the late 13th century the Mongols who had established the Yuan Dynasty in China turned its attention towards Japan. It had demanded tribute from Japan but was steadfastly refused. The Yuan Emperor Kublai Khan ordered an invasion of Japan in 1274, consisting of 600 ships, and a force of 23,000 troops of mixed Mongol, Chinese and Korean origins, along with siege engines and early rocket artillery. In battle these troops fought in close cavalry formations, in contrast to the strict bushido code of honoured single combat. The Japanese fought bravely but couldn't really defend themselves against this massive force fighting in a way alien to them. It was a miracle that after the first day of fighting that a typhoon swept in, and wrecked the invaders' ships. Seven years later, the Mongols would attempt a second invasion, this time fighting lasted for seven weeks as the Japanese no longer stuck to their practice of single combat against these foreigners until again a typhoon struck, destroying the Mongol fleet. The Shinto priests attributed the Mongols' defeat to the typhoon and pronounced its divine nature. Yet, the war against the Mongols had cost a lot economically. There were not enough rewards to go around to the clans that helped contributed to the defence of Japan, and civil war eventually broke out. The Emperor Go-Daigo eventually emerged victorious over the previous Hojo government intent on reviving imperial authority and Confucian practices, but in turn was defeated by the Ashikaga clan in 1336. However, Go-Daigo would flee Kyoto to establish a separate Imperial court south, while the Ashikaga clan installed their choice for emperor from a rival line. This dual existence of Imperial courts was to last for over the next 50 years. ''Sengoku Jidai'' The Ashikaga clan ushered in the Muromachi period during which Zen Buddhism developed. Trade with the Ming dynasty Chinese was established, sowing the seeds of Japanese cultural and economic development. By the middle of the 16th century, however, the Ashikaga government lost control of Japan. Again, provincial lords called Daimyo who had exerted the actual control over the regions began to fight with each other in what became known as the Sengoku Jidai or Age of the Civil Wars. References *One Dead Angel, [http://ron.heavengames.com/gameinfo/nations/japan/japan.shtml Rise of Nations: Japan — a Guide], Rise of Nations Heaven Category:Factions Category:Spoiler Category:Asians